Sleep Deprivation And Passwords Don’t Mix

Sleep Deprivation And Passwords Don’t Mix

Bank passwords. I hate them.

My internet banking requires two separate passwords to complete a transaction. One for a log in, another to make a transfer or payment. And the second password is changed each month. And it can’t be one of the previous ten you have used. Are you kidding me?! I have enough trouble remembering if I put sugar in my coffee before I take a sip, never mind remembering and creating strong passwords on a regular basis.

I can’t even remember if I’ve conditioned my hair when I’m in the shower. And it’s not as if I’m in there for half an hour. But almost every time, I’m thinking to myself, “do I get out the shower now and run the risk of not conditioning my hair and it be all gross and hard to brush out? Or do I possibly double condition?”

Before kids, I had a phenomenal memory. No need for scrawling information on the back of my hand. My mind was a vault with incredible recall. Now, my kitchen bench permanently has post it notes stuck on it with reminders of things to do. I have alerts set in my phone to remind me to be somewhere at certain times. Even when my phone pings, I can’t remember what the reminder was set for without actually checking the phone. Our calendar on the wall makes us look super organised. It’s actually because I can’t remember half the coffee catch ups, PT sessions, work trips and school activities that have been scheduled.

When our youngest was born, he didn’t like to sleep. Actually, he is still not a fan of sleep. One day I was so sleep deprived and looked out the window at the washing line and saw it was covered in clothes. I had absolutely no recollection of hanging out the washing, but it must have been me. My husband was at work and we certainly didn’t have a washing fairy come and visit us.

Sleep deprivation does not assist in remembering all the damn passwords.

I’d like to see banks give customers the option of selecting “I’m a parent” when setting up their accounts. This could perhaps give us a different option to secure our details. Instead of remembering and changing our passwords on a regular basis, ensuring they have at least 10 characters, are a combination of alpha and numerical characters and blah blah blah, how about we have voice recognition? Sing the children’s song that has been stuck in your head for the past week. Or your regular parrot phrase such as, “please, just eat your dinner!” in an exasperated tone. Or a retinal scan of our zombie looking eyes?